Yes, it was horrendous - I'll long remember carrying a whole load of Chromebooks across the baking school playground on that fateful day. Every breath burned, it hurt just to stay alive!
I paid for and stayed in a hotel room that evening, stuff going home to a 40+ house (as it'd been closed up all day). It cost me £80 to be a climate refugee for the night... but it was well worth it, the aircon was set to 19C and I had a wonderful night's sleep.
We will get 40C again in my lifetime, I'm sure, as the seal has been broken so to speak. Last time it started as a rogue outlier on the GFS, then the others picked up... I still remember GEM with its widespread 43s! Thankfully that was as overcooked as the winter chill it loves to show.
As for Brian's point about the GFS not handling drying very well, I find it interesting as there's no moisture at the surface already... the ground here at least is baked solid.
Originally Posted by: Retron